After sending shockwaves within the reggae music fraternity in Canada last week following the decision to shelve some of its categories, including the Reggae Recording of the Year, organisers of the JUNO Awards have indicated their intention to reverse the decision. Allan Reid, head of the JUNO made a post on his official Instagram account on Tuesday, outlining the decision to reinstate the categories based on the strong responses from the music community. “As CEO of the JUNO Awards I want to personally address the recent discussions surrounding changes we were considering for the 2025 Awards, including Children’s Album of the Year, Reggae Recording of the Year and The Contemporary Christian/Gospel Album of the Year categories,” the post read.
The post continued, “Over the course of last year, CARAS [Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences] underwent an extensive process reviewing all award categories, taking into consideration data such as consumption, number of submissions and other metrics. Given the feedback from the community, CARAS will not put these three categories on hiatus this year.” The Instagram post went on to note that an official notice outlining all of the changes for the JUNO Awards programm and its categories will be released on Monday, September 23, 2024.
“We remain dedicated to ensuring the JUNO Awards reflect industry excellence and its representative of the diversity of the Canadian music industry,” Reid’s post read. Carrie Mullings, former chair for the Reggae Recording of the Year committee, welcomed news about the category’s reinstatement. “This is great news that will bring forth much-needed change.
Reggae is a standalone category that may not play on mainstream radio here in Canada; however, it is like blood to the vein streams of reggae lovers worldwide. In saying that, we must now look at the national support on radio for reggae music in Canada,” Mullings told the Jamaica Observer on Tuesday. Reggae singer Kirk Diamond, who is originally from Spanish Town, and who is also a three-time JUNO winner in the Reggae Recording of the Year category, also welcomed the news.
“I think they made the correct decision. Because I have been there so many times, I understand that they usually make changes and these things at the nominations announcements, so to make an announcement right before the JUNO submissions opened this year, I think it was unfair to us, but it also brought the community together, and globally, where we saw a lot of people having the discussions and saying that this was important,” Kirk Diamond told the Observer. Along with Finn, Kirk Diamond won the 2024 JUNO Award for Reggae Recording of The Year in March for the album Dread .
It was Kirk’s third win and the second for Finn. The 54th Juno Awards ceremony will be held at Vancouver’s Rogers Arena on March 30, 2025..
